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Senior Moments: When watching bald eagles care for their young

March 15, 2026

Beaks were touching with an enthusiastic peck, peck back-and-forth, and anyone with a heart had to fall in love with them.

Bald eagles, Jackie, and Shadow showcased their affection to a world they did not realize was watching. They were just a down-home family rendering their Big Bear nest tidy and safe for their upcoming babies.

While the rest of us sheltered from recent winds that felled trees and darkened neighborhoods with power outages, Mama Jackie, with a wing span of six feet, wrapped her eggs in the warmth of the wings to keep them safe until the eaglets hatch.

Meanwhile, daddy and kissing partner, Shadow, was off to find fresh salmon to feed mama in waiting. They shared the feast before he flew up to a higher branch to keep watch over his family. And by watch, I mean fending off predators like ravens and other big wild life who wanted a shot at those incubating eggs Jackie was shielding.

This is my second year in a row of watching in awe as the eagles live out lives of such high parental standards that they make me feel remiss as a parent. We human moms take vitamins, exercise and do our best to eat healthy meals during pregnancy. We create a nursery and, if we are lucky, attend birthing classes with our mates. Maybe they even bring us salmon.

But sitting on a nest in the rain, wind and cold for 34 to 36 days – now that is dedication.

If not for the late wildlife activist and biologist Sandy Steers, many of us might never have known about the wonders of how bald eagles mate, create and ready their eaglets for life in the wild.

Executive Director of Friends of Big Bear Valley, she was the voice behind the bald eagle cam that allows us to view the eagles in their nest. Her detailed commentary brought the lives of Jackie and Shadow to audiences around the world, creating a global bald eagle fan club.

Like Jackie, who sat on her eggs with unfailing purpose, Sandy Steers pursued her passion for wildlife advocacy until she died last month at the age of 73.

She left a legacy of making people look at, and think about, nature in a whole new way.

Email patriciabunin@sbcglobal.net. Follow her on Patriciabunin.com

Orange County Register

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Senior Moments: When watching bald eagles care for their young

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